6 Elements Prospective Parents Look for in School Websites

January 30, 2019

With the new year comes new students! Parents of students that are currently enrolled in your school or district aren’t the only ones who access your school’s website for important information. Prospective parents, or those actively seeking schooling options for their child, also visit your website. Especially around the new year, prospective parents are exploring and comparing different schools in your neighborhood. Whether they’re looking for tuition rates, statistics, or just photos, your school’s website should include it. Here are the top 6 things the Edlio team suggests you include in your school’s website for prospective parents this new year:

Application/Registration Process

One of the first things prospective parents will look for on your school’s website is your application or registration process. Even if you’re a public school or district with open enrollment, parents still need to know what paperwork they need to provide and how long the entire process is expected to take. If possible, make application or registration forms readily available on your school’s website. The easier it is for parents to register their child, the more likely they’ll be to do it!

Our team loves the way Jones College Prep chose to clearly layout the process with little images and estimated dates!

Tuition Rates

Almost as important as your school’s registration process are tuition rates. Your school’s website should make it easy for prospective parents to find out how much one semester or year of schooling costs. As a child, you’re often told not to try on clothes you can’t afford to buy and the same goes for schools. As a prospective parent, you’d hate to waste your time on an application to a school you couldn’t afford to send your child to, even if the school does seem like a perfect match.

Our team really appreciates the way Mater Dei High School includes all aspects of the tuition rate on a designated page from their website.

Statistics

One of the most exciting ways to attract prospective parents to your school is by posting statistics to the homepage. Anything you can quantify from college acceptance rates to average standardized test scores can help your school shine. As a tip, choose statistics that highlight what you’re school is doing well. Maybe that means showcasing an improvement rate from the year before or how many athletic teams you have. Whatever it may be, keep in mind the things that are important to your current education community, given that they were prospective parents once too!

Hogan College Prep’s website is a great example of different statistics to include. Scroll down to the bottom of the homepage to get inspired!

Accolades

Much like statistics, accolades are an easy way to show off what makes your school so great! Accolades can include anything from student achievements to national awards. Including accolades on your school’s website not only helps show off your school’s accomplishments, but it also sends the message that administrators and staff are proud of its students. As a prospective parent, it’s always comforting to see signs that your school works hard to support its students and accolades are a simple way to convey that!

The Edlio team likes how Brookwood High School has an easily-found link on the homepage that takes visitors to a page devoted to accolades.

Media

One of the most powerful ways to really connect with prospective parents is through the use of media on your school’s website. A “day in the life” video on your homepage or candid pictures of students in the classroom really help showcase what life is like at your school. Including just a splash of media lets prospective parents see how great your school actually is, which can help your school seem more credible.

Harlan Community Academy does a great job with their homepage video conveying what life is like at school while also showing off their impressive video skills!

How to Learn More

The last thing that our experts have found useful for prospective parents is providing them with an easy way to receive more information such as open house dates or current parents they can speak with. Including a relevant staff member’s contact information on the registration page is a simple way to address this. Even if you choose not to dedicate a page, or even a section of a page to this information, make sure your school’s most basic contact information is readily available so prospective parents can request what they’re looking for.

It’s easy to allocate all of your school website efforts to content that current parents may find useful; however, devoting just a small amount of time to providing prospective parents with helpful information can help your school boost enrollment exponentially!